OPEC is currently restricting production to keep oil prices from tumbling in an oversupplied market fearful of faltering demand growth. But the national oil companies (NOCs) of the cartel’s largest producers are thinking long term and vying for a large slice of the oil trading pie. The state-held oil firms of OPEC’s largest producers—Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—plan to significantly boost their respective oil trading businesses in search of additional lucrative sources of income from the huge commercial and marketable oil resources they own. The NOCs in the Middle Eastern producers are already competing with the largest independent oil traders of the likes of Vitol, Trafigura, Glencore, Mercuria, and Gunvor. In this competition, the NOCs have one huge advantage over independent oil traders, and that is the fact that NOCs own their oil . According to an S&P Global Platts analysis , state-controlled firms account […]